Final Breath
by Compass West
Summary: Just what is the machine spirit? Oneshot.


**Final Breath**

**Disclaimer: **Don't own anything.

_Just what is the machine spirit?_

_This is a question which has been asked many a time. The truth is, nobody is sure._

The Leman Russ listed to its side as blue energy bolts zipped past it. The _Ave Imperator _was part of the Juryan 21st Armoured, sent along with several other regiments to cleanse a world of xenos control. The name of the world didn't matter. The tank and its crew had seen many worlds, many enemies. The _Ave Imperator _had faced Orkish Wartrukks, Eldar Falcons and Necron Monoliths. It had always come through.

Always...

The _Ave Imperator _shuddered as a Tau railgun round clipped off its side, gouging a long mark on its hull. Its heavy bolters sounded as it pulped the offending Broadside battlesuit into mush. Its main cannon fired, ripping a hole into the side of a nearby Devilfish.

Its gears whirled as it climbed another hill towards its inevitable goal.

The _Ave Imperator_ knew its mission. A group of Guardsmen had been pinned down by Tau fire and required tank support. The tank had been diverted to assist them. It rocked back on its tracks momentarily as a railgun round hit it full on, tearing through its frontal armour. A moment later the round exited the tank from the rear armour, having punched its way through the _Ave Imperator _entirely.

The crew didn't even have time to scream before the pressure created by the vacuum left by the supersonic rounds passage liquefied them. A stream of blood and liquefied organs spouted out the hole in the back of the _Ave Imperator_ momentarily.

As this happened, the tanks wheels locked and it slowed to a halt, its lights dimming and its gun barrels lowering.

The Tau battlesuits observed this and were pleased. They had seen such a result many times. In fact, it was the primary way the railguns killed tanks without striking a fuel supply. One of the Fire Warriors in a Crisis Suit sneered slightly before opening fire back on the pinned Guardsmen the _Ave Imperator_ was supposed to be saving as the two Broadsides provided cover fire. Imperial technology was so inferior to the pristine Tau technology. He had heard that humans actually worshipped such machines, believing them to have souls or 'machine spirits'. It was ridiculous.

But just because something is ridiculous, doesn't mean that it isn't true in some way.

The _Ave Imperator_ slipped slowly down the hillside. At first it merely looked like it was slipping because of gravity or momentum. This notion was swiftly disabused when the roar of its engine started up once more.

The _Ave Imperator _was lost, confused. It only knew one thing. It had a mission to complete. Its cannon sounded once more in a seemingly earthshaking roar. The shell landed among the group of Crisis suits, vaporising one and damaging several more.

Before the xenos could react to this unexpected threat, the _Ave Imperator_ had begun a full-out charge at full-throttle across the battlefield, its heavy bolters firing wildly. It couldn't see properly anymore and targeting information was distorted.

By luck more than anything else, the bolter shells slammed into the helmet of one of the Broadsides, reducing it to a blue mist. The bolter shells fired wildly for a moment before it regained temporary control, the shells severing the remaining Broadside in half.

By this point, the Crisis suits had recovered and returned fire. Energy bolts and plasma blasts slammed into the incoming tank, slowing it down and ripping the _Ave Imperator's_ cannon from the main chassis.

But still it kept coming, its secondary weapons still firing widely. The battlesuits fired again, melting holes into the hull and setting parts of its interior alight. But the _Ave Imperator _never slowed down. It had never failed a mission before and it wasn't going to start now. Its heavy bolters fired their last salvo, riddling several Crisis suits with massive holes. Moments later, the bolters were melted into slag by the Tau weaponry.

The last three Crisis suits stood their ground, firing every available gun into the approaching tank. They were hot-blooded and confidant. What could any Imperial relic do against their superior technology? The _Ave Imperator_ began to slow as it slowly became a massive tank-sized fireball rolling down the hill.

Then, all of a sudden, the tank slowed to a halt as its tracks were melted and burned. It slid far from the momentum and eventually crashed to a stop, nearby the remaining battlesuits, a burned out wreck.

The battlesuits approached the wreck with caution. It was dead. No Tau tank could survive that.

But then again, no Tau tank had a soul.

As the battlesuits turned away, the engine revved to life in one final triumphant sound. The _Ave Imperator_ accelerated forward, crushing one of the suits beneath the remnants of its tracks. The other battlesuits backed off but it was too late as the safeties disengaged by themselves and the _Ave Imperator's _fuel tanks overloaded in an explosion of white hot shrapnel and fire that cut its way through the remaining Crisis suits.

Finally, the _Ave Imperator _died, alone in the rubble. It was at peace, its job was done.

_Later reports of the incident have shown that there should be no possible way for the tank in question to survive for as long as it did against such firepower, nor how it fought on without its crew in the first place. And let's not even get into the question of how its fuel tanks overloaded at exactly the right moment._

_What is the machine spirit?_

_This is a question which has been asked many a time. The truth is, nobody is sure..._

_...But for a group of unnamed guardsmen, it was their salvation._


End file.
